Redesign - Designing on a budget

How do you take your old tired spaces and create a completely new look with minimal effort and expense? Redesign is a term being used frequently in the world of interior design for clients with smaller budgets with big dreams. Here are some simple ideas that won't cost you a fortune:

1) Rethink your furniture floor plan - Often, just moving your furnishings into a new configuration makes a huge impact on the visual impact of your space. Turn the rug a different direction. Move furniture off of the wall, and into a more intimate, conversational space. Move furniture from one room into another room for a change of pace.

2) Reaccessorize -- Rotate existing home accessories into different spaces including different rooms. Purchase new, yet inexpensive accessories with a trendy color (try a local home consignment store). Paint old, tired accessories with a new, updated color.

3) Paint -- Applying a splash of a new, updated color can do wonders. Try one accent wall. How about a chair? Rethink the color of an old lamp base.

4) Artwork -- Dust off any old, yet well-loved artwork stashed away in your closet, under that guest bed, up in the attic. Can you purchase a new matte and frame to give it a fresh, new look? Consider rotating artwork into different areas of your home. Just doing this will make you reconsider those old color schemes throughout your living/work spaces.

5) Nature -- I love adding earthy elements to any space. Fresh cut flowers from your yard (or a gardener friend). Put some colorful earth-friendly potpourri in a bowl. If chemically-sensitive, how about putting some pine cones in a colorful bowl? Mother Nature has loads of offerings, especially this time of year, so indulge!

Redesigning - So where do I start?

In redesigning your personal space, try starting with the following:

1) Your favorite room,
2) The room you spend the most time in or
3) The room where your company spends the most time.

This will get you the most bang for the time/money invested. Once you have chosen the room you want to redesign, think about the overall ambience or feeling you want to have in this space.

Do you want a feeling of calmness and serenity? Think of clouds, fields of lavender, the smell of new rain. Do you want to feel more energized and excited? Think of a sunburst, citrus smells and colors. Do you want to feel warmth and comfort? Think bird's nest, earthy smells and colors.

Thinking about these images in your mind will help you begin to visualize your new space in terms of the colors, smells, textures, etc. you want. It requires a tapping into your intuitive senses, thus creating a shift and rebalance of the energy within your space and providing you with an overall "look and feel" that you are desiring.